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Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Jackson Involved in Blago Pay to Play Scheme?

The Sun-Times is reporting today that Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. promised to raise $5 million for Blago if he were appointed to Barack Obama’s Senate seat.

The overture came from at least two members of the local Indian community who approached the Blagojevich fundraising team last fall, sources say.

Besides the $5 million to be raised by Jackson, the proposal also included another $1 million for Blagojevich’s campaign fund that would come from Indian donors, sources say.
This is the first revelation that a proposal for the Jackson appointment involved an alleged promise that he’d raise campaign cash for the ex-governor.

Also, the amount of money allegedly offered to Blagojevich is significantly higher than what’s been reported so far.

Sources did not disclose what role, if any, Jackson played in authorizing the offers to Blagojevich. Jackson has denied allowing anyone to make pay-to-play offers to the governor on his behalf. The congressman has been interviewed by authorities but has not been accused of wrongdoing. - Politico

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